Back in 2015, WIRED was given exclusive access to the top-secret bunker where Ford conceived the new GT. The car that wowed the Detroit Auto Show that January went on to win its class at Le Mans in 2016, 50 years after the iconic GT40 won Le Mans outright. Now, at a race circuit near Salt Lake City in Utah, WIRED has been invited to drive the road car.

Sitting in the pit lane of the Utah Motorsports Campus is only the third ‘GT’ in Ford’s history. The second, built in 2005 was a pastiche of the 1960’s original and never raced in Ford colours. This is different. The shark-like nose and headlights pay homage to the past, but this GT also looks to the future.

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Crafted entirely from carbon fibre, the bodywork is a slave to the God of aerodynamics. Ford’s designer’s shrink wrapped everything around a tiny cockpit, minimising the frontal area of the car in the interests of reducing aerodynamic drag. On the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans, the racer hit 190mph. Freed of motorsport regulations, the road car has recorded 216mph in a special V-Max mode.

Everything is functional. Even the ‘flying buttresses’ behind the doors are used to carry compressed air from the turbochargers to the 3.5-litre twin turbo V6. The rear wing is active, rising and pivoting to produce downforce or to serve as an airbrake. Given its remit, it’s a tribute to Ford’s designers that the shape also looks so clean and elegant. By comparison, McLaren’s 720S looks unnecessarily fussy.

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The no-nonsense vibe continues inside. The scissor doors reveal a tiny carbon fibre cocoon with an integrated, tubular steel rollcage. It’s unadorned by the trappings of luxury you’d find in a Ferrari. According to the car’s chief engineer, Jamal Hameedi, only the carbon fibre door casings are purely decorative. There’s no carpet and the only nod to real-world usability is a cupholder – a sop to Ford’s domestic market where even a supercar must handle a Big Gulp soda.

Gallery: Ford's latest road-racer on the track in Utah

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To help minimise the size of the cabin – aerodynamics again – the seats are fixed. If you’re lanky of leg, you pull an industrial cord and kick the pedals until they slide away. Then you grab another lever and pull the steering wheel closer. The driving position’s good, but the passenger seat’s so close you’ll be intimate, whether they like it or not. You sit low, inboard and peer out through a visor of a windscreen. Hameedi says he wanted everyone who sits in the car to feel like “they’re on the start line at Le Mans”, and he’s succeeded.

The cabin’s not for the claustrophobic and the boot’s definitely not for luggage. The official cargo capacity is a laughable 11.3 litres – making this car all-but useless as a long-distance tool. Nestling just behind the engine, it also gets uncomfortably hot. If you fancy a weekend in Monaco, you’ll need to courier your luggage or endure the smell of whiffy clothing.

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This cycles through five different displays according to which drive mode you’ve selected – Wet, Normal, Sport, Track and V-Max. All the primary controls have been deposited haphazardly on the steering wheel, while two giant flappy paddles control the seven-speed gearbox.

A sliver of carbon between the seats houses the red started button. Give it a prod and there’s a cacophony of noise from behind your shoulder. The engine, a 3,497cc V6, can also be found in a Ford SUV and even a pick-up truck, but a couple of turbochargers give it a twist. Cynics will ask how you can charge £450,000 (plus options) for a car with an engine from a truck, but as with all things GT, it does the job. “If this engine had existed in the 1960s, they’d have used it then too,” says Hameedi. His argument is simple – we beat Ferrari at Le Mans, so get over it.

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The raw figures support his argument. It produces 647bhp at 6,250rpm and 550lb ft of torque at 5,900rpm and drives the rear wheels. There’s no denying it lacks the melodic howl of an American or Italian V8, but the angry snarl suits the road-racer aesthetic. It’s simple, brutal and effective.

Ford hasn’t released official acceleration figures for the GT, saying only that it will hit 60mph from rest in “around three seconds”. Hameedi claims straight-line thrust was never a key focus of the GT’s development, but it doesn’t exactly want for performance. Third and fourth gear are mighty. Keep the turbos spinning – helped by an anti-lag system in Sport and Track mode – and the GT just goes on pulling. On the road, like so many modern supercars, it almost feels too fast.

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It’s not intimidating, though. Leave it in the ‘Wet’ or the ironically named ‘Normal’ modes and it’ll chug along at 70mph in seventh gear with a minimum of fuss. It’s never less than noisy – the engine competes with the road surface and suspension for attention – but ride’s composed, even if the ‘Comfort’ damping mode is stretching the truth a bit.

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So much for the road. If you’re fortunate enough to have a GT on order, you really need to book some circuit time. Select ‘Track’ and use the suspension’s hydraulics to lower the car by 50mm. In this mode, the throttle and gearbox are also made more hyperactive and the stability control system will allow some slip before it intervenes (you can also turn it off completely).

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While the McLaren 720S always feels like a road car tuned to work on a track, the Ford is a racer tuned for the road. That’s a nuance, but an important one. It’s only as the speed approaches three figures on a circuit that the benefits of aerodynamic downforce becomes relevant. The traction and stability out of medium and high speed corners is extraordinary. You can brake deep into the apex, balance the car on the throttle and let the engine’s torque haul you onto the straight.

The carbon ceramic brakes are nothing less than sensational. Supported by the Airbrake, they stop proceedings with all the impact of a Joshua uppercut. Subjectively at least, these are the finest brakes WIRED has experienced on a road car.

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It would take more time than WIRED had to experience the full repertoire of the GT’s skills on the circuit. Thankfully, progress will be assisted by a bespoke Ford Performance Track App, which debuts here. Built for Android (and soon iOS), it mounts behind the windscreen and uses the phone’s camera to capture the action, while plugging into the car’s brain to provide telemetry on throttle, steering and braking inputs. You can compare lap data and even upload it to social media, directly from the app. It’s still being developed and will filter down to more affordable Ford Performance products in the months ahead.

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Just 1,000 Ford GT’s will be built over the next four years, with only around 25 per year reaching Europe. Despite the lofty price tag, the exclusivity means that values are likely to appreciate on the used market. Let’s hope that owners actually enjoy the cars, rather than locking them up as an asset.

Those that do will have a unique experience. This is a very different proposition to rivals from Ferrari and Lamborghini, which are built to multitask. The GT, by contrast, is a hugely expensive but enthralling toy. Ford set out to build not a road-going supercar but a Le Mans car for the road – and they’ve succeeded, brilliantly.